Cooling tower



Aug. 4, 1959 J. L. GOLDSMITH ET AL 2,898,097

COOLING TOWER Original Filed Oct. 13, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IIIIIIIIIII IIIVIIIII F I] I III! INVENTORS 1959 J. L. GOLDSMITH ETAL 2,898,097

COOLING TOWER Original Filed Oct. 13, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 John 1. 50/05/27/ fl? fi/y/me K domes INVENTORS Aug. 4, 1959 J. GOLDSMITH ET AL 2,898,097

COOLING TOWER Original Filed Oct. 13, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 BY 4/ i ATTO/P/VfKS United States Patent COOLING TOWER John L. Goldsmith and Glynne Y. James, Houston, Tex.,

assignors to Hudson Engineering Corporation, Houston, Tex., a corporation of Texas Continuation of abandoned application Serial No.

540,316, October 13, 1955. This application December 9, 1957, Serial No. 701,675

8 Claims. (Cl. 261-108) face area of the particles and retards evaporation, it is desirable that the spray falling through the tower be broken into fine particles at frequent intervals. For this purpose, packing is provided in the tower. The packing is arranged in such a manner as to frequently interrupt downward flow of water throughout the tower and to break it into small particles.

Heretofore packing has been nailed, screwed, or in like manner secured to the framework within the tower. In many instances the individual slats are individually secured in place in the tower. Where the layers of packing are positioned relatively close to each other, access to the slats of the packing is restricted and repair or replacement of damaged sections of packing is difficult.

It is an object of this invention to provide a packing for a cooling tower which does not need to be nailed, screwed, or in like manner secured to the framework within the tower to hold the packing in place.

Another object is to provide a packing for a cooling tower inwhich the packing is made up of prefabricated panels and spacers which may be assembled at the factory and which may be secured in the tower by alternately stacking the panels and spacers in proper manner.

- Another object is to provide a prefabricated packing for use in cooling towers in which each of the breaker panels is identical and upon proper stacking the breaker 'slats are arranged in generally diagonal planes.

Another object is to provide a packing cube for a cooling tower made up of prefabriacted panels and spacers alternately stacked in the cube in which the arrange- -ment is so simple that unskilled labor may be used to install the packing in a tower. I

Another object is to provide a packing for a cooling all) Another object is to provide a packing for a cooling tower which is made up of prefabriacted panels and spacers and in which interlocking parts index the slats of the several panels in generally diagonal planes.

Another object is to'provide a packing for a cooling- 1 tower which is made up of prefabricated panels and 2,898,097 Patented Aug. 4, 1959 Another object is to provide a packing for a cooling tower which is made up of prefabricated panels and spacers and in which some of the breaker slats of the packing also function as interlocking parts for positioning the slats of the several panels in generally diagonal planes.

Another object of this invention is to provide a prefabricated packing for a cooling tower which can be used to fill half of a packing space or may be used to fill all of a packing space.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be apparent from a consideration of the specification, the drawings, and the appended claims.

In the drawings wherein there is shown by way of illustration one embodiment of this invention and wherein like reference numerals indicate like parts:

Fig. 1 is a view in end elevation of a cooling tower with the skin of the tower broken away to illustrate the framework and placement of packing constructed in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a view on an enlarged scale of a packing cube taken along the lines 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view taken along the lines 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an isometric view on a still further enlarged scale of one of the breaker panels of the packing of this invention;

Fig. 5 is an isometric view of one of the spacers of this invention;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view on a greatly enlarged scale of one of the uprights and cross members of the packing framework at a lower corner of a cube;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 3 illustrating the arrangement and form of spacers preferred for use at one end of the panels when only a half cube is to be built as Referring now to Fig. 1, the cooling tower illustrated has a louvered inlet indicated generally at 10, a packing area and supporting framework indicated generally at 11, a mist eliminator 12 and a fan 13 for drawing air through the tower from the louvered inlet and exhausting it through fan ring 14. A pan and sprinkler system indicated generally at 15 are fed through conduit 16 and sprinkle the liquid to be cooled over the packing in the usual manner. Liquid to be cooled may be supplied to conduit 16 in any suitable manner and liquid withdrawn from the sump in the bottom of the cooling tower in any suitable manner.

Inasmuch as the tower shown in a cross-flow tower, air entering through louver section 10 will tend to deflect 'water falling through the packing toward the mist elimiby the framework.

Referring now is Figs. 2 through 8, the frame-work 11 is seen to comprise columns or posts 17, beams 18 extending between post and horizontally extending joists 19 above beams 18. Joists 19 are positioned at vertically spaced intervals and with post 17 define a substantially cubical space in which packing is placed and supported on joists 19. As best seen in Fig. 3, each cube has three joists 19 with two adjacent a pair of columns 17 and one at an intermediate point supported 3 by beams 18. The intermediate joists 19 is provided with a lathe strip 20 extending along its upper surface about which the lowermest breaker panels, indicated generally at 21, are dadoed. I

The acking is made up bf a number bf vertically stacked breaker panels 21 held in vertically spaced relationship by spacers indicated generally at '22. It will be noted that thep'anels are 'syrhn1etrically stag ered to arrange the panels so that liquid falling through the tower will be frequently interrupted. This is provided fer by a unique indexing system and by interlocking means which will be explained in detail below Rc'feiring "new to the breaker panels 21 and particularly to Fig. 4, each panel is preferably identical and is made up of a plurality 6f spacedparallel runners 23 to which there is secured in crossed -relationship a plurality of parallel breaker slats 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 arranged in order on the panel. Beginning with'the center of slat 24 which is adjacent brie end cf the breaker panel and ending with the center of 'slat 28 which is adjacent the other end of the panel, the runners are divided into five equal spaces and the slats 24 through 28 secured to the runners on centers equal to these spaces. As there are five spaces between "slats 24 and 28 and there are only five slats, a gap will be left at some point which is equal to two of the spaces less one-half the Width of each cf the slats bordering the gap. Preferably, this gap is adjacent one end of the panel so that a spacer engaging the panel in the gap will s'uppb'rt bne end of a :panel. The number and size of the runners 23 'are dictated by structural requirements. The number, width and spacing of the breaker slats are dictated by tower design considerations and the desired frequency of interruption of falling liquid. The tower illustrated is a cross-flow-tower and hence the air drawn through the tower willimpar't a la'teral component bf motion to the {falling spring. Thus, the leading edge of one slat need not be immediately below the trailing edge .of a 'slat'thereabove to be struck by liquid falling from the trailing edge of the upper slat. Thus, while the panels may be staggered in such a manner that the slats of 'three adjacent panels in the aggregate form, in eflect,

a platform to'interrupt fall of liquid every third panel,

the slats may be of such width that cracks are present in the platform.

"Each panel is provided with indexing means such as the interlocking part provided by a downwardly facing groove 29 in each runner 23. Groove 29 is equidistant from slats 27 and 28 and thus a slat received in this groove will be equidistant from slats 27 and 28 and provide the missing slat in the panel. The distance from the centerof slat 24 to the adjacent end of runners 23 is approximately equal to one of said spaces and the bottomend of each runner is. notched at 30 to receive half of a salt. In practice, two panels are positioned with their runners extending horiiontally and with notches 30 dadoed about a common slat. As there should be a crack between the adjacent ends of runners 23 at the dado, the distance from the center line of slat 24 to the adjacent end of runners 23 may be slightly less than one of said spaces and a slat in notches 30 will be spaced from slats 24 at approximately the same spacing as the other slats.

As shown in Fig. 3, these panels are stacked vertically in the framework and spaced vertically from each other by spacers indicated generally at 22. Spacers 22 comprise a plurality of blocks 31 to which there is secured a slat 32 adapted to be received in slot 29 and provide the fifth breaker slat of the panel. Slat 32 provides a means for indexing and keying a panel relative to a spacer and together with groove 29 provide interlocking parts for positioning a panel and a spacer. Each of blocks 31 is provided in its bottom face with groove 33 adapted to be received about runners 23 in a tongue and'groove effect to prevent lateral movement three spacers 22. I end of the second course closely adjacent the edge of 4 of the spacers relative to the breaker panels in a directibh along the slats.

The panel on the side of a spacer 22 opposite slat 32 is also indexed relative to the spacer by interlocking parts. In this instance, the adjacent edge of slats 27 and 28 selectively engage one of the end faces of block 31 and interlock therewith. In a vertical stack of packing, block 31 is positioned to engage slat 27 in one panel and in the two successive panels thereabove block 31 isposi'tionedto engage slat 28 and then the series is repeated as shown in Fig. 3. This positions the slats of each third panel in vertical planes. It will be apparent that the length of block 31 must be related to the slat spacing to provide the desired positioning of panels. As the breaker slats are spaced to have horizontal spacing between slats of adjacent-panels, block 31 will preferably have a length dimension which is slightly less than the distance between a pair of adjacent slats. If two slat widths would fill the space between adjacent breaker slats, then block 31 could have a length dimension equal to two slat widths and the slats of every third panel would overlie each other. However, with the slats spaced apart so that two slat widths is insufficient to fill the space between adjacent slats as in the preferred embodiment the block length must be slightly less than the distance between adjacent slats to position the slats of every third panel in the desired relationship when the panels are staggered as illustrated in Fig. 3. It is also pointed out that the width dimension of posts 17 isgreater than the length of block 31 so that a panel may be shifted a distance comparable to the length of the block without the'panel being disengaged from posts 17.

As bestseen in Fig. 2, the space between adjacent columns 17 and in a plane parallel to the plane of louvered inlet 10 is such that panels maybe received therebetween with the outermost set of runners 23 lying closely adjacent the posts 17 to prevent lateral movement of the breaker panel in one horizontal direction. Referring to Fig. 3., it will be seen that the posts 17 are positioned in a plane normal to the plane of the louvered inlet 10 on centers which'are approximately twice the length of a breaker panel. That is, two breaker panels dadoed about the intermediate joist 19 will have their ends terminate at approximately .the center line of posts 17.

Referring now to the installation of packing within a cube'and particularly to Fig. 3, it will be noted that the lower course of packing is made up of two breaker panels having their notched ends dadoed about the slat 20 carried on the top of intermediate joist 19. The other ends of the two panels rest upon joist 1919, and the panels'terminate at approximately the center line of the two posts 17. A spacer 25 is positioned on each of runners 23 in the space betwen slats 27 and 28 and in abutment with the downwind slat which in the case of the left panel is slat 27 and in the case of the right panel is slat 28. -A third spacer -is positioned between adjacent slats 240i the two panels and abuts slat 24 of the right panel. These three spacers support two panels. A second course "of two panels is then laid on top of spacers 22 and slots 29 and notches 30 dadoed about the slats 32 of these It will be noted that this positions the posts 17 and thus the next course must be moved to the left the diagonal arrangement of slats is to continue without the panels moving out of engagement with posts .17. This is accomplished by positioning the next course of spacers in abutment with slats to the opposite side of slots 29 and notches 30. This will shift the ends of the panels to the far edge of posts 17. The next course of spacers are again shifted to abut the breaker slats downwind from the grooves and notches as was the case in positioning the spacers on the first course of packing. Another course of breaker panel is laid and spacers are positioned on these panels again downwind from the slots and notches. It will be seen that the result is that the spacers abut slats to one side of the grooves and notch and then abut slats to the other side of the grooves and notches in a series of two successive courses and then this arrangement is repeated until the packing is built up to the top of the cube. This results in all of the breaker panels remaining in contact with the columns 17 and in the several slats of the several courses being arranged in substantially diagonal planes so that Water dripping from the slats will strike a slat positioned therebelow to maintain a fine spray within the tower.

Attention is also directed to the right-hand side of Fig. 3 in which it is shown that the panel to the right of posts 17 abuts the panel to the left of posts 17. This abutting relationship will assist in maintaining the panels in position in the tower.

Referring now to Figs. 7 and 8, there is shown the arrangement of a stack-of single panels utilized to pack half a cube as in the lower left-hand cube of Fig. 1. The panels 21 are identical with the panels of the other figures as are the spacers 22. The arrangement of spacers 22 and panels 21 is also identical and therefore panels of a half cube and a complete cube may abut each other as shown in Fig. 7. To support the ends of the panels to the center of the cube, there is provided a modified spacer 34 having upper andlower grooves 35 and 36 respectively, in opposite edge faces of the spacer. These grooves receive the runners of panels above and below spacers 34 to hold the spacers in place and provide lateral stability. The spacer blocks 34 are not tied together in any way but the interior blocks may be easily inserted as one-half the cube is open and provides access to the panels across their notched ends. It will be noted that each block 34 is indexed relative to the panel next therebelow by the block fitting between slats 24 and 25. This provides interlocking parts between the spacers and panels in much the same manner as does slat 32 and grooves 29 at the other end of the panel. It will further be noted that the spacer blocks 34 and each panel 21 next thereabove is indexed by an end face 34a of block 34 being substantially in alignment with an edge face 24a of slat 24 on two successive courses and end face 34a being substantially in alignment with edge face 25a of slat 25 in the next course above and below the two successive courses. In this instance it may be found desirable to nail every third or so panel to post 17 with nails 37. A joist 19a which completely underlies the lower panel 21 may also be substituted for intermediate joist 19.

From the above it is clear that the desired staggered relation of the panels 21 may be provided using blocks 34. However, it is desired that the blocks be tied together for ease of installation and to provide lateral stability. By using slat 32 to tie the blocks together, a single slat performs a dual function. With the form of spacer indicated generally at 22, the spacer and both panels engaged thereby are not only indexed but are interlocked with the panels. For these reasons the spacer 21 is preferably used wherever possible.

From the above it will be seen that there has been provided a packing arrangement which may be prefabricated as panels and spacers in the factory and may be quickly and easily stacked in a cooling tower.

The several panels are held against horizontal movement by their own weight and by contact of the runners with posts 17 and hence no nails, screws, or the like are needed to secure the panels in place except in the case of the half cube packing which is preferably nailed.

It will be appreciated that very little skill is involved in erecting these packing cubes and hence unskilled labor may be used for this job.

A minimum of material is used, but the arrangement is such that adequate stability is provided to hold the panels in place Without nailing.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention is 6 one well adapted to attain all of the ends and objects here inabove set forth, together with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherent to the apparatus.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed Without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the claims.

As many possible embodiments may be made of the invention without departing from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

The invention having been described, what is claimed is: g

1. A packing for an atmospheric cooling tower comprising, a plurality of breaker panels, each of said panels comprising a complete preassembled unit separately movable and placeable as such having a plurality of parallel spaced runners and a plurality of parallel spaced slats secured together in crossed relationship, spacer means comprising separate spacers between adjacent panels to hold them in vertically spaced relationship, each such operative interlocking parts carried by each of the spacers and panels for indexing the panels with the slats of the several panels in generally diagonal planes.

2. The packing of claim 1 wherein the spacer means comprises blocks and a slat securing the blocks together in spaced relation and the interlocking parts comprise said last mentioned slat and a groove in one of said panels.

3. A packing for an atmospheric cooling tower comprising, a plurality of breaker panels, separate spacers between adjacent panels to hold them in vertically spaced relationship, each of said panels having a plurality of parallel spaced runners and a plurality of parallel spaced slats secured together in crossed relationship, a groove in each runner intermediate two of the slats adapted to receive a slat carried by a spacer and extending parallel to the panel slats, said panel slats and groove positioned at uniformly spaced points along the runners so that, with the slat so received in the groove and by staggering panels, liquid falling through the panels will strike a slat at frequent intervals, each spacer having a plurality of blocks resting on the runners of one panel and supporting the other panel next thereabove and a slat secured to the blocks and received in the grooves of the runners of said other panel, said blocks abutting one of the slats of the one panel, which one slat is adjacent the grooves in the runners in said one panel to align the several panels in staggered relationship with their slats in generally diagonal planes.

4. The packing of claim 3 wherein each block has edge faces which are spaced apart a distance which approximates the distance between adjacent slats of a panel, and the slat on said block has one side edge coplanar with one of said edges of the block, said block abutting a slat of a runner of said one panel on one side of the grooves therein, and the blocks in a series of courses thereabove abutting the slats of runners on the other side of the grooves therein, said arrangement being repeated to build a staggered stack of packing.

5. The packing of claim 3 wherein two of said panels are arranged end to end to form a generally horizontally extending course and have a notch formed in adjacent ends, another spacer supporting the adjacent ends of the two panels and abutting one of the slats of another panel, and a slat on said other spacer received in the notch to diagonally align slats of the vertically spaced panels.

6. A spacking arrangement for an atmospheric cooling tower comprising, a plurality of identical breaker panels, separate spacers between adjacent panels to hold them in vertically spaced relationship, each of said panels havingva plurality of parallel spaced runners and a plurality of parallelspaced slats secured together in crossed relationship, a groove in the bottom face of each runner intermediatetwo of the slats adapted to receive a slat carried by a spacer and eXtending parallel to the panel slats, said panel slats and groove positioned at uniformly spaced points along the runners so that with the slat so received in the groove and by staggering panels, liquid falling through the panels will strike a slat at frequent intervals, each spacer having a plurality of blocks resting on the runners of one panel and supporting the other panel next thereabove and a slat secured to the block and received in the groove of the runner of said other panel, said blocks abutting one of the slats of the one panel, which one slat is adjacent the grooves in said last mentioned panel to align the panels in staggered relationship with their slats in generally diagonal planes.

7. ,A packing arrangement for an atmospheric cooling tower comprising, a framework of vertically extending columns and vertically spaced horizontal cross members, and a plurality of breaker panels resting on the cross members,,separate spacers between adjacent panels to hold them in vertically spaced relationship, each of said panels having a plurality of spaced runners and a plurality of parallel spaced slats secured together in crossed relationship, a pair of said runners lying closely adjacent a pair of said columns to prevent lateral movement of the panel, a groove in each runner intermediate two of the slats adapted to receive a slat carriedby a spacer and extending parallel to the panel slats, said panel sl ats' and groove being positioned at uniformly spaced points along the runners so that with the slat so received in the groove and by staggering panels, liquid falling through the panels will strike a slat at frequent intervals, each spacer having a plurality of blocks for resting on the runners of one panel and supporting theother panel next thereabove, and a slat secured to the blocks and received in the grooves of the runner of said other panel engaged by the spacer, said blocks abutting one of the slats of the one panel engaged by the spacer, which one slat is adjacent the grooves in said one panel to align the several panels in staggered relationship with their slats in generally diagonal planes.

8. The packing arrangement of claim 7 wherein each of said blocks is provided with a groove in one face to receive the runners of an adjacent panel to prevent lateral movement of the block relative to the runner. 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,330,901 Mart Oct. 5, 1943 2,342,952 Mart Feb. 29, 1944 2,661,197 Norman Dec. 1, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 239,104 Great Britain Sept. 3, 1925 

